AMRC

Sheffield, UK

Since its earliest days, the University of Sheffield has been a world leader in metallurgy and engineering research, working closely with local industry to develop new manufacturing techniques and technologies.

At the close of the 20th century, Professor Keith Ridgway and local businessman Adrian Allen began to work with Boeing to apply Sheffield’s traditional expertise to new materials, focusing on machining research. The AMRC was established in 2001 as a £15 million collaboration between the University of Sheffield and aerospace giant Boeing, with support from Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund.

In 2004, the AMRC moved into a purpose-built facility as the anchor tenant for the Advanced Manufacturing Park. The centre grew rapidly and, after securing a further £10m funding, opened the 4,500 sq m AMRC Rolls-Royce Factory of the Future in 2008. The original building is currently undergoing a major upgrade and expansion to create a new Design Prototype and Test Centre. An 1,800 sq m extension to the Factory of the Future was opened in 2012 to house an expanded Composite Centre.

The AMRC now forms the core of the University of Sheffield AMRC group, along with the Nuclear AMRC, which is applying the same collaborative research model to the civil nuclear manufacturing supply chain; the Knowledge Transfer Centre, which opened in early 2012 to help us engage businesses along the manufacturing supply chain; and the new AMRC Training Centre, which opened in autumn 2013 to provide advanced apprenticeship and higher training for manufacturing companies.

The University of Sheffield AMRC has also acquired Namtec, a provider of training and consultancy to the UK metals manufacturing supply chain, and Castings Technology International, a world-leading provider of technology, expertise and services to the cast metals sector, to further expand the breadth and depth of its industrial collaborations.